WARRIORS WILL FACE #1 BURNS
Clatsop County was literally a Hall of Fame high school baseball coaching convention on Tuesday.
While Astoria's Dave Gasser got one win closer to Art Thunell's all-time wins mark with a win over the retiring John O'Malley's (401 career wins) South Umpqua Lancers at Aiken Field, across the bay two of the state's top 3A coaches squared off at Warrenton.
Matt Nosack's Santiam Christian Eagles had to go through Lennie Wolfe's Warrenton Warriors in the semifinals on their way to a 1999 championship. Warrenton bounced a number-one ranked Eagles team in the 2001 quarterfinals. Wolfe and Nosack have combined for over 700 high school wins and each coach wears a championship ring.
Only one coach has a chance to size up another finger this year as the Warriors knocked off the 7th-ranked Eagles 6-2 at Huddleston Field, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against the top-ranked Burns Hilanders at Burns on Friday.
Warrenton scored all of its runs in the first three innings, while Santiam Christian did not get a baserunner until the fourth inning.
Dan Wolfe picked up the 12th win of his season with four strong innings, and recorded career win number 30 to pass Danny McFadden as the school's all-time winningest pitcher. The senior, 4-year starter added two hits and a pair of runs batted in as the Warriors outhit the Eagles 12-3 for the game.
Wolfe led off the contest with a double off the left-center field fence, coming in to score on a 2-out single up the middle by Buddy Davis. Back-to-back walks to Billyy Sturgell and Beau Torres with one out in the second inning led to the second Warriors run, as Wolfe plated Sturgell with a fielder's choice after a wild pitch advanced the runners.
Eric Gantenbein led off the third inning with a home run over the scoreboard in left-center field, his ninth of the season. The Warriors added three more runs in the inning on an RBI single by Brandon Slaughter, an RBI groundout by Michael Moore and a 2-out RBI double by Billy Sturgell.
Meanwhile, Wolfe cruised through the Santiam Christian batting order the first time through with three strikeouts and nothing hit to the outfield. The Eagles took advantage of a pair of errors and scored two runs on a Joel Mason base hit in the fourth inning. Wolfe was able to stop the bleeding by getting Paul Lancaster to ground into a 4-6-3 double play before ending the inning on a pop up.
Eric Gantenbein took over on the hill to start the fifth and tossed three innings of 1-hit ball with two strikouts and a hit batter to notch his second save of the season. Gantenbein also went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Davis, Slaughter and Kevin Moore each had two hits for the Warriors.
The Eagles put one more threat together in the fifth inning when Cory Alexander led off with a single and Wade Knowles was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with nobody down. Gantenbein buckled down to get the next two outs on pop-ups before fanning Grant Knowles to end the inning.
Only one out was recorded by Warrenton's outfield and only two base hits got past the Warrenton infield in a strong pitching performance.
"We were defensive really sound," said head coach Lennie Wolfe, who is in the state playoffs for the 19th time in 20 years as head coach at Warrenton. "Our third baseman made the plays. Buddy was solid at second. Not many plays to shortstop, but we got the big double play when we need it. The pitchers really did the job."
Warrenton improved to 21-5 on the season and for the third consecutive sports season a Warrenton team will face Burns in the playoffs. The volleyball team lost at Burns in the first round of the state tournament and the girls basketball team fell to the Hilanders in the state quarterfinals in March.
SANTIAM CHR. 0-0-0-2-0-0-0 2-3-0
WARRENTON 1-1-4-0-0-0-x 6-12-2
W-Wolfe (4ip, 2h, 2r, er, 4k)
L-Wonsley
S-Gantenbein (3ip, h, 2k, hp)
2B-Wolfe, Slaughter, Sturgell. HR-Gantenbein (9).
While Astoria's Dave Gasser got one win closer to Art Thunell's all-time wins mark with a win over the retiring John O'Malley's (401 career wins) South Umpqua Lancers at Aiken Field, across the bay two of the state's top 3A coaches squared off at Warrenton.
Matt Nosack's Santiam Christian Eagles had to go through Lennie Wolfe's Warrenton Warriors in the semifinals on their way to a 1999 championship. Warrenton bounced a number-one ranked Eagles team in the 2001 quarterfinals. Wolfe and Nosack have combined for over 700 high school wins and each coach wears a championship ring.
Only one coach has a chance to size up another finger this year as the Warriors knocked off the 7th-ranked Eagles 6-2 at Huddleston Field, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against the top-ranked Burns Hilanders at Burns on Friday.
Warrenton scored all of its runs in the first three innings, while Santiam Christian did not get a baserunner until the fourth inning.
Dan Wolfe picked up the 12th win of his season with four strong innings, and recorded career win number 30 to pass Danny McFadden as the school's all-time winningest pitcher. The senior, 4-year starter added two hits and a pair of runs batted in as the Warriors outhit the Eagles 12-3 for the game.
Wolfe led off the contest with a double off the left-center field fence, coming in to score on a 2-out single up the middle by Buddy Davis. Back-to-back walks to Billyy Sturgell and Beau Torres with one out in the second inning led to the second Warriors run, as Wolfe plated Sturgell with a fielder's choice after a wild pitch advanced the runners.
Eric Gantenbein led off the third inning with a home run over the scoreboard in left-center field, his ninth of the season. The Warriors added three more runs in the inning on an RBI single by Brandon Slaughter, an RBI groundout by Michael Moore and a 2-out RBI double by Billy Sturgell.
Meanwhile, Wolfe cruised through the Santiam Christian batting order the first time through with three strikeouts and nothing hit to the outfield. The Eagles took advantage of a pair of errors and scored two runs on a Joel Mason base hit in the fourth inning. Wolfe was able to stop the bleeding by getting Paul Lancaster to ground into a 4-6-3 double play before ending the inning on a pop up.
Eric Gantenbein took over on the hill to start the fifth and tossed three innings of 1-hit ball with two strikouts and a hit batter to notch his second save of the season. Gantenbein also went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Davis, Slaughter and Kevin Moore each had two hits for the Warriors.
The Eagles put one more threat together in the fifth inning when Cory Alexander led off with a single and Wade Knowles was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with nobody down. Gantenbein buckled down to get the next two outs on pop-ups before fanning Grant Knowles to end the inning.
Only one out was recorded by Warrenton's outfield and only two base hits got past the Warrenton infield in a strong pitching performance.
"We were defensive really sound," said head coach Lennie Wolfe, who is in the state playoffs for the 19th time in 20 years as head coach at Warrenton. "Our third baseman made the plays. Buddy was solid at second. Not many plays to shortstop, but we got the big double play when we need it. The pitchers really did the job."
Warrenton improved to 21-5 on the season and for the third consecutive sports season a Warrenton team will face Burns in the playoffs. The volleyball team lost at Burns in the first round of the state tournament and the girls basketball team fell to the Hilanders in the state quarterfinals in March.
SANTIAM CHR. 0-0-0-2-0-0-0 2-3-0
WARRENTON 1-1-4-0-0-0-x 6-12-2
W-Wolfe (4ip, 2h, 2r, er, 4k)
L-Wonsley
S-Gantenbein (3ip, h, 2k, hp)
2B-Wolfe, Slaughter, Sturgell. HR-Gantenbein (9).
posted by Matt Richert at 8:29 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home